oil filter mounting plate leak?

[tonielena]

Hi there. The 318LA in my barn find W200 seems to have a small oil leak near the oil filter. Not seeping down from the valve cover or intake manifold, but the oil filter seems to be mounted to the engine on a stamped steel circular insert in the side of the block and the oil is seeping between the top of insert at the block. I've built a lot of engines of many kinds but never seen something like this, always clearly just the machined block casting. The manual shows no picture nor makes any mention of this. Maybe an o ring around the stamped filter mount insert, if that's what I'm seeing. Any thoughts? Even changed filters in case one had a bad seal, not the case. Thanks.

[PwrWgnDrvr]

Should be able to unscrew the fitting in the center of the plate, remove it and add a new gasket. Or maybe just tighten the fitting.

[hd4tools]

There is an additional gasket between the plate and the block. If you have a right-angle adapter, there are more gaskets involved as well

[tonielena]

Thanks, guys. I finally found a picture like the one posted here and it cleared things up for me. The Mopars I've had all were just straight spin on filters and I guess I just never even thought about the way they go on. My truck is just straight spin on and thanks to other posters I have the Fel Pro gasket and will put some extra holes in the adaptor plate when I fix this. Pretty simple if you know how, as they say. Thanks.